Breading machine

ABSTRACT

A machine for coating a food product with breading material has an elevated hopper for storing the breading material and means for feeding the same in a smooth and controlled manner from the hopper, through a free-flowing downspout to be deposited on a belt beneath the food product, together with means for feeding the breading material in a smooth and controlled manner from the hopper to be deposited on top of the food product with a control valve at such outlet to control the rate of feed. A breading level plate is provided to maintain an even layer of breading material beneath the food product on the conveyor belt and this plate is resiliently mounted to relieve pressure of breading material building up behind the plate; and edge control plates are provided for preventing spillage of breading material at the sides of the conveyor belt. A hooded portion of open mesh belt conveyor is provided near the discharge end of the machine with air spray pipes above the belt to remove excess material, and the hood is adapted to be raised without interrupting the operation of the machine. In a modification, a flip bar is provided across the conveyor belt toward the discharge end of the machine to flip over the product so as to shake out breading material lodging in cavities of the food product, together with a novel arrangement for taking up excess length of the belt after it passes over the raised flip bar.

United States Patent Johnson 1 Mar. 7, 1972 [54] BREADING MACHINE [72]Inventor: Richard T. Johnson, Sandusky, Ohio [73] Assignee: Sam SteinAssociates, lnc., Sandusky, Ohio [22] Filed: Jan. 12, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 2,239

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 740,701, June 27,1968, Pat.

flw No.3,547,075

[52 us.C|. ..259/45,ll8/16,l18/21, 118/24 51 1nt.Cl. ..B01t7/02 [58]FieldoiSeareh ..222/414,233;259/45,46,92, 259/93; 118/21, 16, 24

[56] Rei'erences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 940,538 11/1909 Gore..222/233 1,888,821 11/1932 Feam ..222/233 Primary Examiner-Robert W.Jenkins Attomey-Baldwin, Egan, Walling & Fetzer [57] ABSTRACT A machinefor coating a food product with breading material has an elevated hopperfor storing the breading material and means for feeding the same in asmooth and controlled manner from the hopper, through a free-flowingdownspout to be deposited on a belt beneath the food product, togetherwith means for feeding the breading material in a smooth and controlledmanner from the hopper to be deposited on top of the food product with acontrol valve at such outlet to control the rate of feed. A breadinglevel plate is provided to maintain an even layer of breading materialbeneath the food product on the conveyor belt and this plate isresiliently mounted to relieve pressure of breading material building upbehind the plate; and edge control plates are provided for preventingspillage of breading material at the sides of the conveyor belt. Ahooded portion of open mesh belt conveyor is provided near the dischargeend of the machine with air spray pipes above the belt to remove excessmaterial, and the hood is adapted to be raised without interrupting theoperation of the machine. In a modification, a flip bar is providedacross the conveyor belt toward the discharge end of the machine to flipover the product so as to shake out breading material lodging incavities of the food product, together with a novel arrangement fortaking up excess length of the belt after it passes over the raised flipbar.

1 Claims, 27 Drawing Figures PAIENTEDIAR H912 SHEEI 1 0F 7 I/VVENTORPATENTEDMAR 7 I972 SHEET 2 BF 7 Anson BREADING MACHINE This applicationis a division of my application No. 740,701, filed June 27, 1968, nowU.S. Pat. No. 3,547,075.

The term breading material" as included in the specification and claimshereof is intended to include any finely divided solid material forcoating food products, including, among other things, flour, preparedbreading mix, ground bread and cracker crumbs, ground spices, and othermaterials.

It is well known that in handling breading material for coating foodproducts, especially very finely divided solid material such as flour,that it is very difficult to feed the breading material in a smooth andcontrolled manner so as to avoid bridging over of the material inhoppers and passageways and to prevent the clogging of the free flow ofthe material.

It is an object of the present invention to feed the finely dividedbreading material in a smooth and controlled manner from an elevatedhopper to deposit a layer on a conveyor belt beneath the food product.The present invention accomplishes this by moving the breading materialout of the bottom of the storage hopper by means of a screw conveyor,each flight of which propels an increment of breading material to adownspout having its sidewalls so constructed that the material dropsfreely by gravity to the bottom of the spout near which it is depositedon the conveyor belt. At that point, just above the belt, the breadingmaterial is distributed across the conveyor belt by a screw conveyordownstream from which is a leveling plate resiliently supported so thatif, due to malfunctioning of the machine, breading material builds up onthe belt behind the leveling plate, it may move in such a manner as torelieve the pressure so that the parts are not damaged. This levelingplate has adjustable stop means to limit the thickness of the layerdeposited on the conveyor belt and the entire leveling plate and controlknob is movable from its position in the machine while the machine isrunning.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hinged hood over an openmesh wire belt near the discharge end of the machine, there being airspray pipes beneath the hood adjustable along their entire length withrespect to their spacing above the food product on the belt and the hoodand air pipes can be raised for inspection or adjustment withoutinterrupting the operation of the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a flip bar to cause thefood product to flip over on the open mesh belt near the discharge endof the machine if necessary to shake breading material out of cavitiesin the food product, such as the breast of a chicken. This flip barraises a portion of the belt above the normal level and a novel takeupis provided for the excess belt material permitting different heights ofthe flip bar using the same length of belt.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from theaccompanying drawings and description and the essential features thereofwill be set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the breading machine of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a central sectional view through the machine of FIGS. 1 and 2with certain parts omitted for clarity;

FIG. 4 is a fragmental sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG.3;

FIG. 5 is an end view of FIG. 4, enlarged;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmental sectional view taken along the line 6-6of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a fragmental sectional view taken along the line 77 of FIG. 4and greatly enlarged;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmental sectional view taken along the line 8-8of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a fragmental sectional view taken along the line 9-9 of FIG.3;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmental sectional view taken along the line10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a fragmental end view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 13 is a view taken along the line 13-13 of FIG. 3, partly insection and partly in end elevation.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of the cylinder of rods seen near the bottomof FIG. 13 with a part thereof shown in central section;

FIG. 15 is an end view ofFIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a top plan view, enlarged, taken along the line 16-16 of FIG.2;

FIG. 17 is a sectional view taken along the line 17-17 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 shows the lower left-hand portion of FIG. 16, enlarged;

FIG. 19 is a sectional view taken along the line 19-19 of FIG. 18;

FIG. 20 is an end elevational view taken along the line 20- 20 of FIG.2, enlarged;

FIG. 21 is a sectional view taken along the line 21-21 of FIG. 20;

FIGS. 22 and 23 are sectional views taken along similarly numbered linesof FIG. 21;

FIGS. 24 and 25 are side elevation and top plan views respectively of amodification to replace the components shown in FIGS. 16 and 17; whileFIGS. 26 and 27 are sectional views, enlarged, taken along similarlynumbered lines of FIG. 25.

For a general understanding of the machine, reference may be had toFIGS. 1, 2 and 3 showing a hopper 30 into which breading material may bedeposited and which then passes downwardly through a vertical chute 31to the intake end of an inclined screw conveyor 32 which carries thebreading material upwardly in a generally cylindrical tube 33 fordischarge at the upper end through a chute 34 to fall upon a vibratingscreen 35 which is supported from the upper'portions of a hopper 36 byS-clips at the inlet end and by helical spring 38 at the discharge end.Particles which do not pass through the screen 35 fall into a receivingtrough 39 supported on the hopper. A vibrator 40 of known constructionis rigidly secured at 40a to the sides of the screen. The material whichfalls through the screen 35 drops into the hopper 36 with an invertedV-shape bottom 41.

The breading material to form the layer on the conveyor belt beneath thefood product moves by gravity down the lefthand side of the V-shapebottom 41 as viewed in FIG. 3 to a generally rectangular dischargeopening 42 beneath which is a screw conveyor 43 which is rotated in adirection to move the breading material to a discharge end of the screwflight and into a guide box 44, both seen in FIG. 12, horizontally inline with the screw conveyor and extending beyond the discharge end ofits screw flight and communicating without obstruction with thedischarge end of the conveyor through an opening in a generally verticalbaffle 45 substantially coplanar with the sidewall 36a of the hopper 36and approximately in vertical alignment with the terminal end of theconveyor screw flight 43. The breading material then falls verticallydownwardly through a downspout 46 which is constructed to preventbridging over of finely divided material, such as flour, by having twoparallel side walls 46a joined by one vertical sidewall 46b, oppositewhich is a sidewall 46c which, as clearly seen in FIG. 12, has a lowerportion approximately parallel to the wall 46b up to a break point 46dwhere it is inclined upwardly and away from the wall 46b up to the guidebox 44. A kicker paddle 47 rotatable with the shaft 43a of conveyor 43prevents bridging over of the finely divided material at that point.

At the lower end of downspout 46, the breading material is fed to agenerally horizontal screw conveyor 48 which spreads the breadingmaterial across the upper run of an imperforate conveyor belt 49 asshown in FIG. 3 and 12. The spreader screw 48 is of uniform diameter andhas its axis parallel with the upper run of belt 49 with the lowest zoneof the screw being spaced above this belt a predetermined shortdistance. As best seen in FIGS. 3, 6 and 7, a housing 50 substantiallycompletely surrounds the screw conveyor 48 save for an upper openingcommunicating with the downspout 46 and a lower opening just above thebelt 49.

To prevent excessive spreading laterally of the layer of breadingmaterial on the belt 49, two short generally horizontal plates 51, bestseen in FIGS. 4, 7 and 12, are provided, one at each end of and belowthe screw conveyor 48 and forming part of the bottom for the housing 50.Each of these plates extends upstream of the belt 49 beneath theassociated end of the screw conveyor 48 and the plates taper outwardlyaway from each other in the direction of belt travel as shown at 51a.Without these control plates 51, the breading material tends to creepoutwardly at the edges of belt 49.

A leveling plate resiliently mounted is shown at 52 for controlling thelevel of the breading layer deposited on conveyor belt 49. This will bedescribed in more detail later.

The food product to be coated is first given a coating of battermaterial in a batter-coating machine indicated generally at 53 at theleft-hand end of the machine as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This is a knowntype of machine and further description is believed to be unnecessaryhere. The battercoated product is delivered on a wire mesh conveyor 54over an idler roller 55 seen in FIG. 3 for deposit upon the upper run ofthe belt 49 already described.

Means is provided for feeding breading material in a smooth andcontrolled manner from the hopper 36 to deposit on top of the foodproduct carried by conveyor belt 49. Referring to FIGS. 3, 9, 10, 14 and15, the breading material flows by gravity down the right-hand side ofthe inverted V-shape bottom 41 of storage hopper 36 to a feeding device56 which is located in a generally rectangular discharge opening at thebottom of that side of the storage hopper. The device 56 comprises agenerally cylindrical assembly of parallel rods 57 mounted in plasticend plates 58 secured, as by pin 59, to shaft 60 by means of which thefeeding device 56 is rotated. Radially inside of the rods 57 is agenerally cylindrical space most of which is filled by a cylinder 61fixed to shaft 60 so that breading material cannot pass diametricallyacross the device 56 but must be carried or pushed around by theindividual rods 57. By controlling the speed of rotation of the feedingdevice 56, increments of breading material are fed on top of the foodproduct as it passes along belt 49 in predetermined amounts because therods 57 positively move increments of breading material out of thestorage hopper if it tended not to flow fast enough, and the rods 57actually prevent the material moving out of the hopper too fast if suchmight be the case. The rate of flow through the feeding device 56 isfurther controlled by an arcuate control valve 62, the control of whichis most readily understood from FIGS. and 11. The arcuate control plate62 is mounted on a horizontal pivot 63 supported in the frame of themachine. At one end, a crank arm 64 is rigidly fastened to the end ofshaft 63 and having an opening at its outer end through which enters apin 65 which is carried at the end of a threaded member 66 which isthreaded into an axially extendingrecess 67 in the hub 68a of a controlknob 68. This knob is rotatably mounted in a bracket 69 which in turn issupported on the frame of the machine at 70. A helical spring 71captured between bracket 69 and knob 68 takes up slack in this controlmember. Adjustment of knob 68 controls the opening between lips 620where breading material discharges from the feeding device 56 onto thetop of the food product moving along conveyor belt 49.

Downstream from the top breading operation and above the conveyor belt49 two pressure rolls 72 are rotatably mounted in the frame of themachine and resiliently pressed toward conveyor belt 49 so as to pressthe breading material into the food product as it passes beneath theserolls.

As clearly seen in FIG. 3, beyond the pressure rolls 72 the food productis transferred from belt 49 to the upper run of an open mesh wire beltconveyor 73 driven in the direction of the arrow there shown by aplurality of drive sprockets 74 mounted on a drive shaft 75 journaled inthe frame of the machine and extending across the entire width of theconveyor belt as clearly seen in FIGS. 16, 17 and 18. The generalcharacter of the wire mesh belt is shown in FIG. 18 and the drivesprockets engage the laterally extending straight wire .portions 73aclearly designated in FIG. 18. Idler collars 76 are provided on crossshaft 77 at the discharge end of conveyor belt 73 as clearly shown inFIGS. 16 and 17.

Means is provided for vibrating the conveyor belt 43 so as to shake offexcess breading material. The means shown in FIGS. 16,17, 18 and 19comprise a plurality of inverted V-shape members 78 firmly held bycrossbars 79 fixed in the frame of the machine so that the tips ofmembers 78 engage the straight wire belt portions 73a during travel ofthe conveyor belt thus causing it to vibrate. It will be noted in FIGS.16 and 17 that there are two of the bars 79 supporting the V-shapeprojections 78 spaced longitudinally of the conveyor 73 and tiedtogether by a plurality of tie rods 80 which are fixed to one of thebars 79 and looped over the other bar. The breading material shaken offbelt 73 falls onto a horizontal plate 81 supported on the frame of themachine beneath the lower run of belt 73 in position for the belt tokeep the plate 81 clear of breading material as the lower run of thebelt passes toward the left in FIGS. 3 and 17 carrying the loosebreading material into a recess 82 extending crosswise of the machineand provided with a screw conveyor 83 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 13 whichis driven in a direction to carry the breading material crosswise to thedownwardly extending chute 31 beneath the hopper 30 previouslydescribed. The material shaken from belt 73 is thus carried back to thescrew 32 to be returned to the top of the machine.

As shown in FIGS. ll, 2 and 20, a portion of conveyor 73 has the spaceabove it enclosed in a hood 84 which is open only at the opposite endsover the conveyor belt sufficiently to permit the passage of productinto and out of the hood. Suspended from the roof of the hood are twoair pipes 85 extending above and crosswise of the belt and perforated ontheir lower sides so as to blow a blast of air upon the breaded foodproduct traveling along belt 73 to dislodge loose breading material.Means is provided near each side of the belt with respect to each of thepipes 85 to adjust the height thereof above the belt. This is clearlyseen in FIGS. 20, 21 and 22 where each pipe is mounted in a sleeve 86rigid with an L-shape bracket 87 which is adjustable vertically by meansof a threaded rod 88 which has a threaded connection with the bracket 87and is manipulatable by a knob 89 available above the roof of the hood.Slotted openings 90 in the vertical wall of the hood permit thisadjustment. Each pipe 85 is connected outside of the hood by means of anelbow 91 with a flexible hose 92 which extends beneath the frame of themachine and is supplied with air under pressure from a compressor 93driven by a motor 94 mounted in a bracket 95 which is connected with theframe of the machine. At the right-hand side of FIG. 20, the hood 84 isconnected by bracket 96 to one or more hinge pin connections 97 so thatthe hood may be swung from the full line position of FIG. 20 to thedot-dash position shown there while the machine is in operation. Theflexible hose connections 92 permit this movement of the hood and pipes85. The hood may be braced in its raised position by a brace 98'shown indot-dash lines in the bracing position and shown in broken lines storedinside the hood when not in use.

If necessary or desirable, means can be provided for holding each of thepipes 85 in adjusted position so that the air openings 850 are directedas desired by the operator. This shows a setscrew 99 in the sleeve 86which will hold each pipe 85 oriented about its own axis in the positiondesired.

Referring back to the breading leveler plate 52, the details of thisconstruction are clearly shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The plate 52 is rigidlyattached, as by welding, to a shaft 100 which is rotatably mounted inopposite sides of the housing 50. A plastic disc 101 is pivotallymounted on an extension of shaft 100 and carries a stop pin 102. Acontrol knob 103 is mounted on the extension 100a of the shaft 100 andconnected therewith by a helical spring 104 which has its outer end asseen in FIG. 8 connected at 1040 with a slot in the shaft extension100a. At its inner end, the spring 104 is connected to pin 105 carriedby the disc 101. A stop projection 106 on the control knob 103 limitsthe movement of the plate 52 toward the belt 49 when stop 106 engagesstop pin 102. The position of disc 101 is fixed, as shown in FIG. 5, bya clamp 107 which is secured in position on housing 50 by a wing nut108. In operation, disc 101 is turned to place stop pin 102 wheredesired and then the clamp 107 presses against disc 101 to hold it inposition when wingnut 108 is tightened. If desired, an adjustableextension of plate 52 is provided as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 comprisingan auxiliary plate 52a having pin and slot connections as at 109 withthe plate 52 with any desired adjustment being held in position by abolt and nut arrangement 110.

The housing 50 is open at 111 to permit the breading material to flowonto the belt 49. A cleanout opening 112 is provided at the rear of thehousing 50 and this is normally closed by a plate 113. A strip ofplastic material such as Delrin is shown at 114 in FIG. 7 and this ispreferably supplied between the plates 51 and the belt 49 to protect thebelt and to prevent leakage there.

Referring to FIG. 5, means may be provided to lift shaft 100 andleveling plate 52 out of the machine by providing an elongated opening115 in the end wall of housing 50 so that when plate 52 is turned withits dimension longitudinally of the opening 115, then shaft 100 may bemoved upwardly and toward the left as viewed in FIG. 5 and shaft 100 andplate 52 may be moved out through the opening 1 15.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, conveyor 73 may be swung upwardly in thedirection of the arrow about shaft 75 which carries the drive sprocket74 to assume the dot-dash position of that Figure. Means is provided, ifdesired, to pin the conveyor 73 in the dot-dash position for purposes ofworking on the machine.

In some cases it is desirable to flip the food product over after it hasbeen coated with breading material to dislodge excess breading materialwhich may have packed into a hollow portion of the food product such asthe breast of a chicken. A

modification for this purpose is shown in FIGS. 24 through 27. Here theopen wire mesh conveyor belt 73' is like that previously describedexcept that the belt 73 is longer than sufficient to stretch with upperand lower straight runs between the drive sprockets 74 and the idlercollars 76. A support bar 116 is supported by a pair of arms 117 atopposite sides of the conveyor which are pivoted on shaft 75 whichcarries the drive sprockets 74. Each of the arms 117 has a prop member118 adapted to be fixed to its associated arm 117 in various adjustedpositions by bolt means 119. This permits different heights of thesupport bar 116 held by the props 118 which engage against the siderails of the conveyor 73a. The excess material of the conveyor beltextends as a bight between the support bar 116 and Nylon tighteningmembers 120 which are mounted on bar 121 extending crosswise of theconveyor and adjustable by means of a bolt and slot connection 122 inthe side rails of the conveyor to press the Nylon members 120 againstthe slack material of conveyor belt 73' to hold it taut. With thisarrangement, the height of the support bar may be varied withoutchanging the length of the belt because the excess or slack material ofthe belt is always taken up by the Nylon members 120. By this means,food products 123 are raised to the height of the support bar and thenflip over as they drop down to the upper run of the conveyor belt at 73'so as to knock off excess breading material.

The belt 73" may be vibrated near the discharge end thereof to dislodgeany breading material lying on the wire mesh conveyor belt. To this end,mechanically driven belt vibrator blocks 124 are shown fixed to across-shaft 125 which is rotatably mounted in the side bars 73a of theconveyor and rotated by a drive pulley 126 so as to cause the comers ofthe blocks 124 to alternately lift and drop the upper run of theconveyor belt as illustrated in FIG. 27. The blocks 124 are showngenerally square but they could be other polygonal form. Preferably, theblocks 124 engage the conveyor belt at portions thereof indicated at124a in FIG. 25 where short lengths of wire run continuously along thelength of the conve or belt.

ultable means is provided for dnvlng all of the components hereinabovedescribed in the directions necessary to carry out their functions. Itis thought that the details of these drives form no part of the presentinvention and would only be confusing. Referring to FIG. 2, a motor M isshown mounted in the lower portion of the frame of the machine andthrough suitable belts, chains and pulleys, together with belttighteners and idlers, drive the screw conveyors 43 and 48, the drivepulley 49a for conveyor belt 49, the feeding device 56, the screwconveyor 83, the drive shaft 75 for conveyor 73 or 73', and a drivesprocket 127 acting through gearbox 128 to drive the inclined screwconveyor 32 in the tubular housing 33.

The machine thus described will efficiently' coat food products withfinely divided breading material smoothly and continuously and in acontrolled manner.

lclaim:

1. In a machine for coating a food product with breading material, anelevated hopper for storing and feeding breading material, there being agenerally rectangular discharge opening at the bottom of said hopper,the sidewalls and bottom of said hopper shaped for gravity flow of saidbreading material to and through said discharge opening, a dischargefeed control means in said discharge opening, said control meanscomprising a generally cylindrical assembly of parallel rodssubstantially filling said discharge opening with the diameter of saidgenerally cylindrical assembly not substantially less than the shorterdimension of said rectangle, an imperforate cylinder concentric withsaid assembly of rods filling a major portion of the space inside ofsaid assembly of parallel rods from end to end thereof, a shaftextending axially of said generally cylindrical assembly and drivinglyconnected therewith, and means for rotating said shaft, a dischargecontrol valve comprising a valve plate curved generally concentric withand supported adjacent the outside of said generally cylindricalassembly with its lower edge forming a linear lip adapted to registerwith one side of said rectangular discharge opening, and means foradjusting the position of said lower edge of said valve plate relativeto said one side of said rectangular discharge opening whereby tocontrol the amount of breading material moved through said dischargeopening by said rotation of said assembly of rods.

1. In a machine for coating a food product with breading material, an elevated hopper for storing and feeding breading material, there being a generally rectangular discharge opening at the bottom of said hopper, the sidewalls and bottom of said hopper shaped for gravity flow of said breading material to and through said discharge opening, a discharge feed control means in said discharge opening, said control means comprising a generally cylindrical assembly of parallel rods substantially filling said discharge opening with the diameter of said generally cylindrical assembly not substantially less than the shorter dimension of said rectangle, an imperforate cylinder concentric with said assembly of rods filling a major portion of the space inside of said assembly of parallel rods from end to end thereof, a shaft extending axially of said generally cylindrical assembly and drivingly connected therewith, and means for rotating said shaft, a discharge control valve comprising a valve plate curved generally concentric with and supported adjacent the outside of said generally cylindrical assembly with its lower edge forming a linear lip adapted to register with one side of said rectangular discharge opening, and means for adjusting the position of said lower edge of said valve plate relative to said one side of said rectangular discharge opening whereby to control the amount of breading material moved through said discharge opening by said rotation of said assembly of rods. 